


Angel in the Ocean

by castlelions



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lifeguard Lance, M/M, Short & Sweet, Soft AU, keith doesn't know how to swim, poor baby, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 18:51:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15297798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castlelions/pseuds/castlelions
Summary: Lance had become weary of his repetitive days working as a lifeguard until he scoops a drowning boy from the ocean and swears he had caught a glimpse of the heavens.





	Angel in the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> i credit this idea to my klance gc on twitter (love u guys)

The sand glistened like diamonds beneath the hot summer sun, crushed beneath the feet of hundreds of beach goers this afternoon. The lifeguard kept watch in his tower, shielded from the baking sunlight beneath his sunbrella. It was a somewhat calm day; no distress calls, no babysitting episodes, no reports of harassment. Lance couldn’t be happier, especially when he had something to look forward later.

 

He remembered when he first got this job. Desperate for something to occupy his summer before college, he applied as a lifeguard. His mother and siblings thought it was a great idea; Lance did too, but he wanted something permanent and enjoyable. Not that being a lifeguard was boring, but just sitting around for days on end became overplayed.

 

“It will never get boring,” Veronica, his older sister, once told him. “There’s plenty of girls to flirt with every day.” He absently agreed but was still unsure. 

 

Lance initially expected it to be hard work; at least, that’s what his supervisor at the time cracked it up to be. Constant surveillance, nonstop patrolling of the shore, keeping the seagulls away from people’s food, yada yada yada. He did at least one of those within three weeks. After he realized that kind of effort wasn’t necessary, Lance since retreated to his outpost, a little elevated tower that provided shade from the beaming sun.

 

He wondered when there’d be a break in his mundane routine. That was until a particular, typical sweltering hot day last summer.

 

He knew the exact date and time it was. August 10th, 3:15 in the afternoon on a Wednesday.

 

Lance was sitting in his tower per usual, but this time there was a garbled shout below him. When he checked to see what the problem was, panic shot through him when he saw a drowning figure in the water.

 

People were watching from the shoreline, respecting the rule that only the lifeguard ventures out that deep into the ocean. Some onlookers were shouting and waving for him to come down. From his vantage point, Lance could see that this boy was around his age, if not a bit older. That’s all he saw as far as appearance. The signs of his distress was obvious, though. This boy was struggling to remain above the water’s surface and was thrashing in all the wrong ways.

 

The boy probably did not know how to swim.The tide must have dragged him out beyond the buoy barriers! Most people were smart enough not to go near them.

 

Lance grabbed his rescue board from beside his chair and climbed down the ladder. He sprinted across the hot sand and waded into the water as fast as he could. The tides were beginning to roughen up, so much so that Lance had trouble staying upright against the waves. He hoisted his board up and lifted himself onto it, laying on his stomach as his arms drove into the frigid water and paddled toward the drowning boy. The ocean seemed to respond to his earnest, dialing down its severe tides to allow him easier passage. Even so, it took him longer than he liked, and by the time he reached within helping range, the boy was losing strength, and quickly.

 

“Help me!” the boy was screaming, his plea for someone to save him so faint on Lance’s ears that he wasn’t so sure he heard him. But as Lance steadily approached, the boy was whispering the word over and over, his body rapidly going still. His head repeatedly went beneath the water, and that’s when Lance knew that if he didn’t act now, this boy was going to die.

 

“Shit!” Lance rolled off the board and dove straight into the water, not bothering to hold his breath or close his eyes. Intense ice flooded every inch of his body, fluffing up his trunks, seeping deep into his pores, until liquid cold was all he felt. But he was trained to withstand the effects of the ocean. He briefly opened his eyes time from time, searching for the body of the boy. After a few seconds of a no show, Lance began praying to every deity in existence for this teenager’s life.

 

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, through the churning waves and rushing water, Lance spotted a pair of long pale legs dangling freely in the water, raven hair floating freely like a black halo. Before the salt could begin affecting his eyes, Lance pulled himself through the water and wrapped his arms around the boy’s waist, tugging him quickly to the surface.

 

Lance gasped as his face broke the surface, gulping in air at the same time holding up the boy’s limp body, vigorously shaking his head to rid of water and hair stuck in his eyes. Twisting and turning in the water, Lance grunted as he heaved the boy onto the board. Once he was properly laid on top, Lance began to thrash his legs to propel him and the boy back towards shore, and in the meantime pressed his fingers to the soft flesh of the boy’s skin, searching for a pulse. Lance’s body momentarily froze all motion when he detected none.

 

Was that right? Lance stopped paddling altogether, digging his fingertips deeper into the boy’s neck. _Damnit!_ His hand was shaking too much for him to focus on a heartbeat.

 

From his advancing position, Lance saw that even more people had gathered to see what the commotion was. But that was the least of his worries. All he cared about was checking if this boy was alive or not.

 

Lance paddled them past the buoys, and that’s when he tripled his pace. When he began to feel the ground beneath his feet and was able to stand, the beach-goers that were standing by shouted for people to give them space as Lance haggardly pulled the board onto the sand. He dropped hard onto his knees and put his ear near the boy’s nose, feeling no air pass through. That’s when he curled his palms and launched into desperate but hyper-focused compressions, keeping his eyes trained on the boy’s face the entire time.

 

The boy was pale, even more so in his unconscious state, and definitely a year or so older than Lance. He had finely chiseled features and broad, jet black arching eyebrows with a mop of hair to match, which fanned out behind his head like black tar. His nose tilted upward ever the slightest. His closed eyes held a more definitely slant to them. Lance couldn’t help but let his gaze linger on his lips lastly; he wanted to reason that the next step in reviving the boy was resuscitation, which was why he was a step ahead, but the soft curve of his mouth was mesmerizing. Lance was beginning to wonder if he had dragged an angel out of the waves, and the more he stared at him, the more reasonable his thought became.

 

The boy’s chest, of which Lance realized was incredibly well defined and nearly all lean muscle and smooth skin, did not respond to his compressions. So he leaned up, pinching the boy’s nose with one hand and gripping his lower jaw with the other, prying his mouth open. Before Lance could comprehend what he was about to do, he took a deep breath and brought his lips over the boy’s, breathing his life into him.

 

Once.

 

Twice.

 

No response.

 

_Come on, buddy!_ Lance grunted, pulling away and dove into the compressions again. All the while, he kept his gaze trained on any sign of life on the boy’s face. Why wasn’t he responding?

 

He cradled the boy’s head again and breathed into him once, then twice.

 

Three seconds passed, and life stirred.

 

The boy sputtered and heaved. Lance laughed, half-mad in his success, and he carefully turned the boy on his side where he continued to cough up the ocean. When he was done, he flopped onto his back and stared blankly at the sky.

 

Lance watched him, transfixed. The sun was hitting his face directly, highlighting things that he didn’t see before. Like the healed scar from his jaw to his cheekbone, so faint that it wasn’t noticeable unless he stared. There were other things too, but nothing like the way the boy’s dark eyes seemed to hold a purplish hue as they trained on him.

 

Lance realized he was staring longer than necessary. He grinned, his nerves a chaotic mess as he fumbled for words. “Hey, man.”

 

The boy cleared his throat several times before he spoke. When he did, a jolt shot up Lance’s spine. His voice was hoarse, most likely from the ocean, and warm. Like sitting by a fire during the winter with a cup of cinnamon hot cocoa.

 

“Hey. Uh, did you save me?”

 

“Yes, yes I did.” Lance gestured to the ocean. “You know, you should learn to shred those waves before going out that far.”

 

Now that color was returning to his face, the boy’s skin flushed with an obvious pink, but his dark irises watched him closely, confidently. “I don’t know…”

 

Lance rubbed the back of his neck, his smile growing. “Well, _I_ know that if you’re going to be swimming _at all,_ you need to know how, so events like this never happen. The name’s Lance, by the way. At your service.” Lance didn’t know how else to act. This boy had frazzled his nerves.

 

“Keith. Forever in your debt.” The grin that he gave Lance was enough to make him forget what he ate this morning.

 

“There is one way you can repay me, I suppose,” Lance said, already cooking up a plan. At the same time, Lance's eyes kept being drawn to Keith's lips. They were incredibly soft, like touching silk with your lips. Lance wanted more.

 

Keith sat up slowly, wincing as if in pain. Lance held out his hand and helped him to his feet, realizing that Keith was nearly taller than him by an inch or so when he stood. “What can I do? I don’t have any money though-”

 

“No, you idiot. Let me give you swim lessons. You need them.”

 

Keith debated in silence for a whole minute. In that span of time, Lance glanced around to see that the some beach-goers were watching the two boys in approval, others looking at him with respect and pride, or both, though they had all drifted back to their belongings. He gave them his best hat-tip, then brought his attention back to Keith, who was watching him with a gentle smile.

 

“I’ll look forward to it.”

 

“Alright. I got you, buddy. We’re going to make you an Olympic swimmer in no time.”

 

Keith’s laugh was rich and full of tender warmth, bringing his attention to their still joined hands. It was then that Lance realized that his summer couldn’t have began with anything better than this. Because Keith was the beginning to something more, and Lance was never bored. He was always satisfied, and happy.

 

He was so glad he became a lifeguard for the summer. 


End file.
